Sunday, April 22, 2007

I was actually unaware that TODAY was earth day, I guess I thought it was last Friday or something... but had several reminders this morning.

First Reminder was my seven year old daughter wrote a letter to our Gov., Bill Ritter. (While I was sleeping in... her dad told me she worked really hard on it.) What a smart girl she is. Her topic: that Walgreens was building too many stores, and destroying the bunny and prairie dog homes that were in the open spaces. She only blames Walgreens, mind you... not the 25 acre shopping mall that was built about 5 miles from our house, or all the new housing developments springing up all around us. Just Walgreens. Apparently they are the bad guys in this scenario - and the bunnies and prairie dogs would be thriving but for the drug store chain that does seem to be building a lot of locations too near to each other lately. I will, like a good mother, mail her letter off to the Mr. Ritter - and hope that he takes a minute to familiarize himself with how a first grader would improve the earth. (My apologies to Walgreens - I patronize them for all of our prescriptions so I would miss them if they went away. But, please realize that I must encourage my seven year old to fight for things she believes in.) (Also, I wonder if she is mixing up "Walgreens" with "Walmart", which she has overheard her father and I discuss on more than one occasion. If they weren't the only ones still carrying Dove Nutrium liquid body wash, I'm not sure we'd even step foot in one again.)

Second Reminder was at Soccer. One of the moms, who is hilarious btw, mentioned to me that she would not be a concerned citizen on Earth Day if she didn't point out that I should have brought my OWN cup to Starbucks for my latte today before the game. She's right, but it was only AFTER the caffeine kicked in that I realized it really was Earth Day.

Oh, and then this afternoon my dog threw up all over the front step of our house. Ewwww. There I was, out in the open for all to see, HOSING OFF THE PORCH, wasting water on Earth Day.

I vow to do better next year. I will at least try to remember my own cup for the Starbucks run!

My thought, prayers, and sorrows are with the families of those affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday.

There are probably going to be no answers to the question, "Why?" It's confusing and horrific. Please know that my heart is with each and every one of you.

My husband and I were in Mexico with friends 8 years ago when the eyes of the world turned towards Columbine with such saddness. It was strange to be in a different country when it happened - and to really realize that things like this do have an effect on so many others in this world. But, I assure you, the eyes of the world are on this, the prayers of the world are with you... and the knowledge - once again - that we cannot absolutely protect those we love no matter how much we love them.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

I thought this was over. I thought that last year was the year that we “hemorrhaged” money. I see now that I was delusional. Hemorrhaging money is a multi-year process for us. It would be too simple to have one bad year.

Let’s backtrack. Last year was expensive. In the spring I got a letter that we owed $1800 in taxes that we had been overpaid to us in our 2004 refund. (Oops, my bad. I wondered why we got such a big refund!) Spring in to Summer our dogs both got sick. Hannah, the husky, cut her foot to the tune of a $600 ER visit, plus a couple hundred in “re-bandaging” fees every time she chewed through the bandages to the stitches. Bo, the boxer, developed two mast cell tumors. About $2900 later he was fine – and they did a really good job. (The dogs are not something I am sad about spending our money on – as they are such sweeties and such an important part of our family.) Between the dogs illnesses we had the AC recharged in the minivan ($400). We had to have our house painted ($3200) but before we had the house painted we needed to have the attached shed repaired because it was rotting and pulling away from the house ($1400). After tires for Jim’s car and a trip to Washington / Oregon for a wedding and vacation ($??? Didn’t keep track, but about $1500), it was time for dental surgery for Annie (roughly $3200 total). That takes us to roughly mid October. We’ll stop before the Christmas outpouring gets added in.

Oh, and our home’s AC went out in September. (We’ll discuss this a little further later.)

Shoot forward to 2007. I’m breathing a sigh of relief, because while we do have to replace our furnace and AC (furnace has to be replaced because it works sporadically at best – we live in Colorado so that’s not really acceptable, and because it’s not big enough to support an AC that is big enough to cool our house properly), we’ve known it was going to happen for a while now. Estimate: $5000+. DH has convinced me that we really do need to buy another car. ($10,000 - $15,000… but will probably have a three-year loan – so not totally scary) BFF in TX is getting married. (Driving to TX, hotel, meals, dress and alterations, gift… lets say $1000) Today we received the stunning news that the minivan needs massive repairs (because of the storm and “Lake Lisbon” I incurred a ton of damage to the front end of my car) - $1700 to make it “safe” to drive. We’ll need another $1100 to fix the AC, which has now been traced to the compressor. DH is not taking this laying down; he’s determined to find a cheaper way to get the AC fixed.

It’s only April.

Pray for us.

I’m thinking of buying “The Secret” to see if I can stick a finger in the proverbial dike.

Yep, that's me!

About Me

Bienvenue à ma vie! I am a part time stay at home mom (not to be confused with "housewife" which would imply that I have any interest at all in housekeeping... which I don't) / part time Social Media Marketing Consultant living in Denver. Here are my ramblings.
Just so you know, "Husband" is my husband of 16 years, "DD1" is my darling daughter who is fourteen years old, and "DD2" is my darling daughter who is eleven years old.